How to defeat Berlusconi. The definitive guide.

This seems to be one of the biggest political problems, nowadays. I’ll try to provide you an effective strategy on how to defeat your worst enemy in ages.

Berlusconi is not a dictator

We should be quite clear here. Especially abroad, people believe Berlusconi is governing Italy without having Italian consensus. This is just a wrong assumption and, as in mathematics, if you start from a wrong assumption, you’ll end wrong. So, for a moment, assume Italian people properly voted him, take a deep breath and reflect on why this could ever happen. An hint will follow very shortly.

A missing alternative

I’ll ask you again, after this heading. Why people is voting Berlusconi? Because they have no alternative. And it’s not just because of an extreme power on the media that makes impossible for opponents to show them up.

Seriously, there’s no one on the left party that could even remotely aim to the government in Italy. Italians are perfectly aware of this. They are aware of the fact that, even if they vote for the left party, they’ll be so disunited that they could never create a stable majority. They would be fighting each other and new elections would be needed in a few months.

If I ask you (and I’m looking at you, UK people) a name of someone from the left party, a candidate, their programme, would you be able to provide me with a name? How many of you know about Beppe Grillo and his political programme?

The wrong approach

One of the biggest errors in fighting Berlusconi regards strategy. Opponents usually reason in the following way:

Get rid of Berlusconi

Find an alternative

What I suggest, instead, is:

Find an alternative

Get rid of Berlusconi

It’s not a Media battle

It’s literally evident what a great communicator Berlusconi is. His power in the media world is just scaring.

Now, reflect. If you were in a war and you’d know your opponent is extremely skilled in a certain type of fight (say he’s got the best archers in the world), would you try to beat him by sending your archers against his own archers? Honestly, it wouldn’t make any sense.

You’ll never obtain anything attacking him on the media. You need a different strategy.

Be objective, don’t blame him for everything

Articles like this one have the opposite effect on the Italian population. Treat Berlusconi in an objective way. Don’t publicly attack him on literally everything. If something wrong happens, the press immediately blames Berlusconi. You’ll just make him look as a victim, and, trust me, you’ll loose credibility and professionalism. If he’s doing something good, talk about it, don’t ignore it.

Do not compare Berlusconi with Mussolini

Berlusconi has nothing to do with Benito Mussolini. If you compare him with the dictator, you’ll help him in winning consensus. I know this sounds weird, but, for example, in the South of Italy, some people have a deformed conception of Fascism. The problem is far from being trivial and a lot of historical education should be performed in this sense.

Even if it’s sounds awkward, you need to understand how people were living in the South during Fascism. Lot of burglaries and killings, chaos and disorder were having place before the dictator. During that period, people were living under a surface of safe condition. Lot of roads and sewers and land reclamations have been performed. The Italian football team won two world cups. If you talk to an old grandfather you’ll hear sentences like: “Today, I’m not feeling safe. When Mussolini was governing, I could sleep with my front door open”.

You need to understand and educate these people. In the meantime, clarify that Berlusconi is not Mussolini. Don’t merge the two personalities, and you’ll gain consensus among this category of people (that is luckily not the majority, nut still they represent a good number in some areas).

Don’t talk about his private life

Berlusconi is not an actor. People shouldn’t care about his love affairs, he’s not Tiger Woods. Treat him as an actor and he’ll win consensus (actors will always have popularity, no matter if they’re good or bad behaving). Treat him as a politician and you’ll win. A Cornwell’s style Gotham Gotcha gossip column won’t help you in beating him.

Be informed

There are so many errors and imprecisions when foreign press is reporting news from Italy. Guys, if you want to gain consensus, be informed, send people there to check what’s really going on. Don’t trust rumors. Talk to Italian people, they’re better than you think.

Don’t focus on him, but on his co-workers

Berlusconi has a great personality. Doesn’t matter if it’s a good one or a bad one. He’s simply too strong (because of media, because of money, whatever you want). But he’s not governing Italy by himself. He’s surrounded by low-profile people, easily attackable. Focus on the Lega Nord, focus on people is selecting for decisive roles. Unmount these people, one by one. Carefully look at their political programme. You’ll find incredible things, extremely easy to attack.